My family and I stayed at the Tang Cheng Hotel for 2 nights near the end of June 2007. We booked out three rooms as part of a package tour of China.

The Tang Cheng hotel is a very nice tourist hotel that only has one key drawback, which is the fact that it is not located near the historic city walls (and city center). It is located in one of the outlying neighborhoods of Xi'an. The area is fairly busy and bustling, especially during the day (with some street food vendors in a nearby alleyway and a couple of interesting food markets a couple blocks away), but it is not a very "touristy" area at all.

The hotel itself has a very large, almost cavernous, lobby area with a lobby bar, 2 restaurants (one upstairs and one downstairs), and a small shopping arcade and business center off to one side. There is also a pretty garden in the back of the hotel that guests can walk through.

The front desk staff were very friendly and handled our check-in/check-out quickly and efficiently. The rooms themselves were all nice and clean, with terrycloth robes and slippers already arranged for our use. The beds themselves are typical of many Chinese hotel beds (VERY firm mattresses), but otherwise comfortable.

Of the two restaurants, one is a 24-hour Western restaurant and the other is a Chinese restaurant. Our tour included buffet breakfast at the Western restaurant, though we only had breakfast there for 1 morning. The 2nd morning we asked to be switched to the Chinese restaurant. The buffet at the Western restaurant has about a 70/30 mix of Western/Chinese food with a lot of typical breakfast items such as scrambled eggs, french toast, fruit, etc. The Chinese items primarily consist of fried rice, noodles, and rice congee. There is also an omelet bar. The food at the Western restaurant is average at best. This is why we switched to the Chinese restaurant for our 2nd breakfast. The buffet there has significantly more interesting food items including a variety of steamed buns and dumplings (though there is still an omelet bar for the less adventurous). In my opinion, the Chinese breakfast is MUCH better than the Western one. (Who's wants bad scrambled eggs when they can get tasty pork buns? I can get scrambled eggs anywhere in the U.S., but not the buns.)

Note: If your tour package at the hotel includes the Western breakfast and you want to switch to the Chinese one, the main thing to keep in mind is that the Chinese breakfast is CHEAPER than the Western one. As such, the hotel will initially be very unwilling to switch you over because they think you'll ask for the money difference back. We just told them that we didn't care about the money difference, and once they got that assurance from us, they were more than happy to switch us.

Stayed there in March 07 for 2 nights. Hotel is not in the city center but not far from it by car or taxi. Nothing worthwhile seeing within walking distance but location is safe. The hotel itself is modern with a vast lobby and many upscale souvernir and fashion stores. Rooms were of good size with all the usual Chinese hotel amenities (robe, splippers, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, etc). This one even included boxes of underwear and condoms near the sink but those were at an extra charge! There are separate Western and Chinese breakfast buffets. Tried both and preferred the Chinese even though it was cheaper but be ready to try unusual foods.
We sent some clothes for laundering overnight but received our neighbors bag instead and pricing was way off but still dirt cheap. You can buy new clothing items for less than laundering orices if you are of chinese built (think extra small). Took them a few hours to fix the laundry mess but they brought us a nice fruit platter to apologize for the confusion. Had a 90 mns Thai massage on the 12 floor which was excellent for just 180 Yuans (about US$25). You can find much cheaper Thai/Chinese/foot massage parlors around the hotel but those places did not seem as hygienic and our guide said they were linked with prostitution. There is another massage location in the beauty store in the lobby but that was closed at nighttime. Overall above average for a chinese business hotel.
Pity that Xi'an is so polluted, 4 charcoal powerstations around the city spitting non stop clouds or dark smoke. A local told me they had not seen the sun for 3 years... Still worth the visit for the Terra Cota warriors and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Ancient City wall and Bell Tower were not really worth the detour though.

This hotel was the least expensive choice on a gotoday Beijing/Xian/Shanghai trip. It was definitely a step up from the hotel in Beijing but was quite a distance outside the city walls. I would have preferred to be inside the city walls as I love to walk around and it seems like there is plenty to do and see. However the cab fare to the South Gate was only about 17 yuan (approx $2 USD). And the main attraction, the warriors, are quite a distance from the city anyway.

The hotel has a very large and imposing lobby and check in was quick and easy. Many of the staff speak English and are very helpful and courteous. There is a large and open gift shop and garden type lounge actually in the lobby. Just off the lobby are two restaurants and a smaller gift shop with some food items and a business center. One of the restaurants was "western style" and open 24 hours a day. My included breakfast was in this room and the buffet selection was large but the food was just OK. I had dinner in the other restaurant with my two friends and we ordered all of the most recognizable things on the Chinese menu and stuffed ourselves for under $20 USD total for the three of us. Some dishes were hits, others were misses. But for that price it was great fun to experiment. Outside is a garden area with a rock waterfall that you can climb.

My room had two full beds and was actually quite pleasant although the bathtub did have some mold. The A/C worked well, the bathroom amenities included razors, cotton swabs, emory boards, toothbrush and paste, and combs in addition to the standards. and two free bottles of mineral water were replenished every evening. The beds were low and firm but were dressed with a comforter whose cover was changed nightly if the card for a sheet change was left on the bed.

All in all the Tang Chen seems like a business hotel even though it was part of a tourist package. If you don't mind being some distance outside the city walls I think it is an excellent bargain choice,